Monday, May 5, 2008

How to Donate

Folks,Just a reminder. Since yard sale season is upon us,I thought it wise to have a chat about the do's and don'ts of donating to our store.Donation hours - Mon thru Thur we take donations 11am to 6pm.Friday and Sat we take from 11am to 3pm.Please arrange to arrive during those times so you not disappointed and left with a car load of donations.It's not that we don't want our things, you have to remember Sterling is a leased spot and we have to leave it clean when we leave at night. Even if you only have one bag the 6 cars just pulling in will have more and it will never end. We have to establish limits. We only have a skeleton crew. Right now we are paying a mortgage and rent. So we are cutting cost wherever we can to still make money for our programs.With all that said he's some general guidelines- there is a sign posted at the drop off site - this list specific items we seem to get dumped on us and we don't have any use for these items, so they go in the trash. If it's on that list please don not disguise it and leave.That load of toys will go in the trash as well as the old time computer monitors.-this list is not all of the items we do not take. Ask an associate BEFORE you start unloading.-please separate breakables from clothing. - Nothing worse then reaching a bag and getting your hand sliced open on a broken piece of glass. Clothing gets tossed into a pile to get sorted later.-if it's been in your basement and you have a damp basement - do not bring anything from there to us. I have seen at least one employee turn blue because of the mold. I know I have allergies and the one thing I can smell across the parking lot is mold and mildew. So if any employee asks if this has been stored in he basement, it's probably because thy have smelled it and will not take it.- it should go without saying that we do not take anything wet, soiled, broken,missing pieces. But we still fill 2 dumspters every weekend with this type of stuff.Folks check our website at www.loudounhomeless.org and click on the donation link guide. It will give you a really good idea of what we take and don't take.We appreciate your donations. And look forward to seeing you.Mary in SterlingOne more thing - never leave stuff after hours - it just gets stolen before we ever get to it. And it just ticks off the neighbors.